Hebrews 10:1-18 – Finished Business

Millions of worshipers worldwide think they are practicing Christianity, when the form their religion takes is one of seeing Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as unfinished business. Even born again saints could fall into the same religious trap if they don’t go on growing to maturity in the faith. Oh, how I wish every catholic and orthodox person in the world would read this passage and hear this message. And how I wish every young Christian would internalize the truths of this passage and stand firm in the faith that was once and for all given.

Hebrews 9:15-28 A better sacrifice

Hebrews 9 pt II – A better sacrifice. Infinitely better.

We continue our study through Hebrews 9 and find that Christ’s better sacrifice accomplished so much for us that we could do nothing to complete it or supplement it in any way. These verses will help you appreciate what He has done for you perhaps more deeply than ever before.

Once and for all – Hebrews 6-10

In today’s world, one religion is fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month, another is fasting from meats other than seafood on Fridays for 40 days, and another is fasting from all meat and dairy products for seven weeks. More than a billion people trying to curry favor with God with their paltry sacrifices.

But our sins are so bad that the price required to pay for them was the lifeblood of God’s own Son. The message of the cross is both that any sacrifice we make, even if it were every day of the year, would fall infinitely short of enough, and that the sacrifice God, in love, provided for us, is infinitely more than enough to pay the price in full forever.

Follow our ongoing message series from Hebrews 6 through 10 (second half of chapter 9 coming this week) on the davebunnell channel on youtube for faith-building meditation from the scriptures on these topics. Give up self-righteousness and self-sacrifice for lent or ramadan. Receive in full everything Christ bought for you. You will celebrate Jesus more fully than ever before this coming holiday season.

Hebrews 9:1-14 – A better temple. Much better.

The Old Testament temple was a wonderful place of God gloriously blessing His people. But good as it was, the heavenly tabernacle in which Jesus serves is far better. We continue our ongoing study through the New Testament book of Hebrews.

What we were, what we are, and what we will be – 1 John 3:1-2

The Christian life sometimes involves frustration with ourselves—why did I do that?!? why did I say that?!?

Good news: although our perfection in Christ isn’t fully attainable now in the flesh, one day and forever, we will be sinless. Here’s how to live life now in anticipation of that great gift we’ll enjoy in the future. As John Newton said (paraphrasing): I am not what I WANT to be. I am not what I OUGHT to be. I am not what I WILL be. But I am not what I WAS, and by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Revelation 14 pt 2, God’s eternal wrath

In the second half of Revelation 14, the message discusses the reality and eternality of hell and the wrath of a holy God against unwashed sin. It’s not fun to hear, but its importance as a topic far outweighs its unpleasantness. Please listen and consider. Even if you are already saved, and thus personally have nothing to worry about, let God use it as He has purposed, to focus your heart in several ways the sermon’s application discusses.

The Berean Test: 3 traits you need to carry the mantle of Berean

Be careful not to be found a false berean

Acts 17:11-12a

“Now these Jews (of Berea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed….”

One of the things I’ve found surprising the last several years of engaging in online Bible discussions, is how many Christians consider themselves “Bereans,” when they aren’t that. There are three things that Acts 17 tells us made the Berean Jews a noble group; but so many of the ones who want to carry the mantle “Berean” on social media only major on one of the three, and do so cantankerously. I get the feeling many of them bragging about their bereanousness couldn’t even name the other two traits that make a Christian worthy of the label. Why were the Bereans noble in their response to preaching?

1) They received the word with all eagerness. (So many online self-proclaimed Bereans don’t have an ounce of that trait. In fact, I’ve seen several that actually boasted about the fact that they don’t go to church because they can’t stand the preaching that happens in every church they can find. It all fails to measure up to their personal standards.) To be Berean is to not only listen to preaching of the word, but to long to do so with eagerness, because a Berean wants to hear from God more than he wants to reflect on his own thoughts and ideas.

2) They examined the Scriptures daily to see if the things preached were so. (This is the one the self-proclaimed Bereans want credit for.) But for many of them, what they really do is argue with everything they hear, assume the worst possible imaginable interpretation of every sermon, and accuse every Christian pastor of heresy. (Or just listen in their hearts to the accuser of the brethren and repeat whatever he tells them about a pastor, rejecting said pastor without ever hearing him preach at all.) They don’t trust God that He does actually have pastors in the world that He has chosen and given to the church to do the work of ministry. And some of them, presumably with straight face, will call themselves Bereans in the same sentence that they tell you they’ve not been active in a church in years. Don’t get me wrong. Pastors’ words should be tested by the scriptures. And good pastors want that to happen. Good pastors actually like to learn the word further and to have God redirect their thinking when it is out of line. And certainly on issues of the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, a preacher must be solid. I’ve many times told the congregation I pastor that I want them to be so dedicated to defense of the true biblical gospel that if I ever abandoned it, they would abandon me. If that’s your attitude, don’t feel like I’m stepping on your toes with this article, because it isn’t you I’m talking about. I’m talking about those who think they are Bereans not because they love to hear the word preached, but because they don’t.

3) Many of them therefore believed. That’s the third thing, and it tends to be ignored as much as the first by those who know only the second and interpret it to mean a good church member is putting all his or her energy into critiquing every sermon instead of receiving it for spiritual growth in the Lord. Some also have the attitude of correcting any pastor who preaches God’s promises and encourages them to trust Him. Their critical spirit causes them to dig in their heels, because it is more important to them to take preachers down with cries of “word of faith heresy,” than it is to believe God’s promises and receive His blessings. They cause themselves to miss out on so much, by burying His precious word in the ground instead of investing it in their lives and making church and following God their chief focus.

The solution: Be a real Berean, not a self-deceived fake one. Love the Lord, Love His word, Love hearing it preached, Love its preachers, put everything to the test of scripture, and believe wholeheartedly everything that passes the test (which is most of what your local Bible-believing church preaches each week.) But if your attitude is that of critic, accuser, skeptic—so that you don’t ever experience great joy that a sermon has moved your heart closer to the Lord or increased your faith, please don’t kid yourself any longer–you’re no Berean. Not until you love to hear and receive preaching AT LEAST as much as you love critically analyzing it.